


Family 'Bakery'

by FeuerPhoenix



Category: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Animal Death, Cats, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26202010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeuerPhoenix/pseuds/FeuerPhoenix
Summary: Ardyns self destructive habit finally backfired and he gets to be a dad.A cat dad.
Relationships: Ardyn Izunia/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22
Collections: Ardynoct DS





	Family 'Bakery'

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Data_HEX](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Data_HEX/gifts).



> A little thing for our Ardynoct Discord exchange. Huge thanks for guts taking the time and fixing my grammar.
> 
> Also, please note that i DO NOT know how to take care of infant animals. I wrote to the best of my knowledge but am in no way an expert.

It was an accident. It still wouldn’t even make the top five of the worst things that had happened to Ardyn in the last two years. But later, much later he’d look back and see this was the one tragedy that for once changed his life for the better. He’d fight anyone that decided to take this from him. 

The accident itself was a stupid mistake. His self destructive habit of getting drunk finally backfiring. 

It had been another one of these horrible, horrible days. He’d had way too many of these lately. Where just looking in the mirror made him choke up and his past came back to haunt him in cruel flashbacks. Flashbacks of his brother and all the things he lost to him, his family, his friends and lastly his fiancee, dying in his arms, all on the same day. It was the day he stopped practicing his profession. No matter how good he was at his job, he couldn’t save her and he’d never save anybody ever again. He was done.

All this and a considerable amount of alcohol, bad life choices and the not so small wish for someone else to just end his miserable life lead him to the place he was at right now. Sitting at another grave not his own. He wasn’t that lucky.

He’d been getting shit face drunk at his favorite seedy bar that didn’t ask any questions and managed to climb behind his steering wheel while and ran over....   
  
If he had known he would endanger someone else…

He didn’t mean to!

He never wanted someone else to suffer like this, pay for his stupidity. Fuck. He punched the ground in frustration. 

All Ardyn had been hoping for in the back of his mind was maybe making the mistake of taking his own life. That would have been fine, even preferable to what actually occurred. This...this was just the gods mocking him.

It wasn’t even a dreadful night to fit his mood, maybe it would even have been a beautiful night to anyone else besides Ardyn that is. The stars were out and the moon was shining brightly, illuminating the grave besides the road and the flowers he had put on it. It might be over the top to bring so many for such a tiny grave but he felt like bringing something with him and couldn't decide on which ones to bring, so he just took some of everything, when his guilt urged him to revisit this place. The grave was still new and untouched by anyone else, there wasn’t even a marker of any sorts and Ardyn debated about making one.

  
Really, it was stupid to get so overly emotional about a n insignificant ’ cat. But if Ardyn had at any point been a more bit more of a responsible person. This ‘insignificant’ cat would still live.

He could almost hear the pitiful meowing of the dead cat. His conscious for sure, sounding like the cat, telling him how much he messed up. But for some reason it just got louder and louder, very insistent. Very real. Almost too real. 

He looked up in surprise. No that wasn’t in his mind at all. Following the sound of pathetic high pitched mewling he found the source by crouching down to look under a nearby trash container using the flashlight of his phone to see underneath it. There they were, a ball of squirming mewing lifeforms, well hidden from anyone passing by. They had the same brown orange fur colour as the cat Ardyn had killed not too long ago. Well, they were missing the distinct lack of blood but still. It was enough to make Ardyn pause.

He fumbled, trying to get to his phone as fast as possible and hitting the speed dial and didn’t even think twice before making the call.

“Verstael my friend, you remember last christmas? I am cashing in that favor.”

* * *

“Son, get your friend.”

* * *

03:44 Chocobutt: NOCT YOU BETTER BE AWAKE

03:44 Chocobutt: OMW NOW

03:45 Chocobutt: KITTEN RESCUE

* * *

He was at a loss. He didn’t know the first things about cats besides that they were very self sufficient. So until someone that actually knew what they were doing arrived to pick them up he decided to just bring them home and see what to do from there. 

Ardyn bundled them up in his scarf and got them home as fast as possible but now stood before the problem that he didn’t know where to put them. They were dirty and smelly so the furniture was a no go. Who knows? They could even have fleas and he really didn't want that anywhere in the house. So the bathtub it was. 

He put a towel inside the tub and gingerly laid them out on it. They really looked like they could use a bath but he was pretty sure it would be a bad idea to try and fill the tub, so he refrained. He got them a small, shallow bowl and filled it with water, putting it right besides them. Maybe milk would have been better? That's what a small kitten ate after all. He stood in front of his refrigerator debating this when his doorbell finally rang. 

That signaled that whoever Verstael sent to take care of the kittens was finally here and he’d be rid of the moral nuisance soon enough.

“I’m coming!”

Ardyn practically skipped to the door. In the meantime the person at the door kept insistently ringing the doorbell, which was just incredibly rude, especially at such a time of day. This put them immediately on Ardyns shitlist. Now annoyed by whoever was in front of his door, he opened it just for it to be shoved into his face. Again. So very, very rude. 

"Excuse y-" he was about to start complaining about said rude behavior of this person when they decided to just shoulder into Ardyn ’ s apartment. Now faced with a fuming teen standing in front of him he was speechless. The boy looked to be in his late teens, dark hair, fair skin, questionable choice of clothing but high quality wear (Ardyn could spot that form 10 miles away) and pouty lips, turned into a scowl that just begged to be kissed. Fuck he was thirsty.

Said pissed off 'teen' was ignoring any kind of personal space boundaries and crowding Ardyn against the wall with his mere presence. It would have been very threatening to have someone you just met right in your face, snarling as if he was about to rip out your throat. Well, if he wasn't a head smaller and looking very similar to one of the kittens he picked up not too long ago. Very feral, much hiss, incredibly cute.

“You the asshole that drove over a cat because he thought it was a good idea to drive intoxicated?”

Ardyn made something akin to a dying sound in the back of his throat. He didn't like being called out like that, but damn if this kid wasn't hot. 

The 'teen' gave him a once over, apparently not liking what he saw from the way his look turned even more sour, if that was even still possible.

“Thought so.” With an annoyed huff the teen stepped away from Ardyn, running a hand over his own neck and grimacing while looking at the floor. 

"Look, I'll try to ignore the reason why I am here and we'll focus on saving the kittens, ok?"

"You're really not doing a good job at ignoring that." Ardyn pointed out, his raised eyebrows more in wonder of this bold behavior than being put off. He didn't care what this teen thought.

“You wanna keep talking or get to saving some lives?”

“Well..” 

“I am the best chance you have at fixing your mistake so just don’t piss me off and we'll be fine, alright?” 

Ardyn just nodded and watched Noctis step back outside to get a plastic tube filled to the brim with blankets.

“Name’s Noct by the way”

* * *

Noctis gingerly took the kittens one after the other into his hand and looked them all over. “We got two girls and three boys.” He opened their mouths every time, too. “They can’t be much older than 2 weeks. But at least they are all lively which is a really good sign.”

He took one to the sink and started the tap, filling a very shallow bath to clean the kitten while getting out a special soap.

  
“You got a room you don’t use a lot?” Noct asked while he was back to working on cleaning each kitten carefully.

“Mhhh.” Ardyn meanwhile stood in the doorframe, leaning against it and watching Noctis work diligently. “My library.”

The 'teen' stopped, looking at Ardyn as if he had two heads. “Of course you’d have a library.”

“Anyway, go and turn the heat up in there, we gotta get these babies warm before we can feed them. Oh and take the box there while you’re at it. There should be some heatpats in there, warm them up in the microwave.” Noctis rattled off instructions for Ardyn, focusing back on his own task for now.

There were many ways Ardyn had envisioned his morning to go and a lot of them involved a considerable amount of whiskey or wine and none included being bossed around by an attractive stranger and apparently adopting five kittens.

“Why can’t you just take them to a shelter?   
  
“Look, you can’t just give them to a shelter, kittens have an underdeveloped immune system and just the high volume there would make them much more susceptible to illness. Do you know how many neonates die there? Well, i do.“ 

Noctis looked at Ardyn very intensely, daring him to try and disagree.

“They need 24 hour care, just like their mom would have given them. The spot is open now. Congratulations on getting the job.”

* * *

“Here, sit down.” Noctis pulled on Ardyn ’ s arm, forcing him to take a seat in his armchair. A towel and heatpat was thrown his way as Noctis moved to set up his new working space.

“Wrap that in the towel and take the kittens beside you on it. We gotta warm them up before we can feed them.”

“So. What i got you here are very basic things, i still have some other stuff we’ll get you for when they are older. But that can wait until after we take them to a vet tomorrow.” Noctis explained while bringing in the high plastic tube still filled with various things.

The teen glared at Ardyn who was still motionless with the kittens on his lap. 

“You gotta put your hands around them, warm them up. Like so . ” He showed him how. Taking Ardyn's hands in his own, holding them over the squirming cats, rubbing softly over their fur. All Ardyn could think about was how soft Noctis' hands were, holding his own.

“Wait, when they are older? **_We_** take them to the vet? You’re not taking them with you?”  
  
Noctis looked up at Ardyn, kneeling in front of him, their hands entwined over the kittens. Ardyn felt his heart skip a beat, looking into his crystal blue eyes.  
  
“Your fault. Your guilt. Your responsibility.” And he kept on walking right into his living room, putting his cargo down. “You’ll be stuck with them for a few weeks.”

Ardy just gave him a bewildered look and realised Noctis not only walked into his apartment as if the place belonged to him and the kittens but they were going to stay for an undefined time period.

He wasn’t sure yet if he was a lucky man or should be very, very afraid.

* * *

It took Noctis less than half an hour to repurpose Ardyn's small library into a kitten nursery and he still claimed to be missing equipment. His desk was now void of any documents and books and instead turned into a feeding and weighing station. The heat was turned up because the kittens were not able to regulate their temperature yet. They were now sleeping peacefully in the plastic container which was filled with a soft blanket with a head pat underneath and a teddy bear to cuddle with. 

Noctis slowly taught Ardyn how to take care of the kittens, how to hold these squirming small bodys safely and how to feed them tiny drops of formula he mixed himself. It really wasn’t so bad until Noctis showed him how to help the kittens take a dump before every feeding. 

“So, we need names for them. What do you wanna call them?” Noctis asked while he was marking the weighing chart.

“I don't know. What do you call your cats usually?”   
  
“Whatever really, maybe something cute or a trendy name. When i get a litter i just take a theme and name them all after it.”

“Oh.” Ardyn sat down beside the box holding his hand down for the squirming bodys of fluff to rub against. They were various shades of orange, brown and white. “Bread!

“Bread?”   
  
“Yes..and Toast” he held up an almost entirely brown kitten. “Dough, Bun and Loaf!” He pointed to each one while giving them a name and grinned in satisfaction, incredibly proud of his idea. He completely missed the fond look Noctis gave him, too busy petting Toast.

* * *

Noctis shouldered open the door to his new home, his arms filled with groceries Ardyn had told him to get after school. It was still strange to call it home even in his head. He somehow moved in without even really knowing he was doing it. First it was just his collection of kitten rescue equipment he had collected in the course of this time helping out part time at the shelter, but over the weeks in which he helped caring for Ardyn ’ s kitten he never really left and slowly his clothes and the few personal items he owned soon followed the rest. He never meant to but it just somehow happened.

He threw the keys into the bowl, for said keys, sitting beside the wardrobe on his way to the kitchen. Noctis always wondered who owned this kind of fancy shit? Ardyn did apparently. What a nerd. “I’m back.” he called out while putting the bags down on the kitchen counter.

There was a muffled answer from the living room which he only half heard and went looking around the corner to find Ardyn sitting on the Couch, staring intensely at the TV. Which was still turned off. “You okay?” - he asked , a bit worried now since Ardyn didn’t move at all, still staring at the TV, the remote motionless in his outstretched hand. “Ardyn?”; he sat down beside him, trying to see what Ardyn was seeing. Loaf was currently curled up in front of the TV not moving a muscle, looking smug as ever. “Are you staring at the TV or at the cat?” 

Ardyn finally reacted, huffing irritated and pouted. “I can’t turn the TV on. Loaf is blocking the signal.” Noctis broke out laughing. Yeah. He was home.

**Author's Note:**

> All of the cats find a good home!(i was gonna kill of one for drama reasons but wasn't allowed to)  
> Most of them get taken by Ardyn biweekly D&D group. Ardyn does end up keeping his princess Loaf(and Noctis)  
> Toast is a cat that loves to sit on shoulders, he gets adopted by Drautos and is the Glaives new mascot(they are a special department of police in this universe)  
> Dough is a feisty cat that loves destroying all of Adyns furniture, he gets taken in by Aranea.  
> And last but not least Bread. He is a special cat that demands a lot of attention and gets adopted by Ravus after he at part of Ravus D&D Figurine(that noe happens to be missing an arm) Ravus really gets into the whole fostering kitten thing after having to listen to Ardyn's constant whining. It is actually what makes him finally bound with Noctis. Luna couldn*t be happier.  
> The only one not taking a cat is Vers because he's not allowed near the cats.  
> Instead, Bun our sweet little lady gets taken in by Prompto's trucker friend Dave.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it <3


End file.
